The rise of the blue-collar signing bonus — now up to $25,000

This is good to see. There are skilled jobs all over that need to be filled and the best way to fill these jobs is to pay people well.

Just an aside – I recently drove through West Virginia (not the coal country part, but over the spine of the Allegheny Mountains in the north) and I saw something I had not seen in deep rural America for a long time. ‘Help Wanted’ signs.

(From The Washington Post)

Gary Painter, a public policy and economics professor at the University of Southern California, said he expects to see more of these perks, which are more often associated with office roles.

“A shortage is only a shortage,” he said, “until you pay enough money to relieve that shortage.”

The trend could pull more workers from major cities to smaller job markets, where wages have historically been lower and housing is cheaper. Think: Nebraska, Indiana, Iowa — states with larger blue-collar communities.

“Employers throughout the country will start to offer higher wages than they had two years ago,” Painter said, “and you’ll see people entering these medium-sized metro areas directly because they can get similar incomes at much lower housing costs.”